BECEXT COLONISTS 



99 



unwettable pliinia<j;e, olive, black, and chestnut 

 in colour, his legs set far back — 'becoming 

 almost a fish's tail indeed, rather than a bird's 



DABCHICK ON XEST 



legs,' the lobed feet in shape like a horse- 

 chestnut leaf. His habits are as curious as his 

 structure. His nest is a raft made of a mass 

 of water-weeds, moored to the rushes or to a 

 drooping branch, and sometimes it breaks from 

 its moorings and floats away, carrying eggs and 

 sitting bird on it. On quitting the nest the 

 bird invariably draws a coverlet of wet weeds 



